Calculating Loads for Safe Pallet Stacking

Question:

Q: Hi Robin. We place four 55 gallon drums of juice onto a pallet. Each drum is about 450 pounds. We want to stack these pallets of juice on top of each other in our freezer. How high can we stack these? Since it is sitting on a cement floor I assume this would be figured out as a static load. We have 40 by 48 wooden pallets. Since our finished pallets are not subjected to other forces (Dynamic, conveyors, racking) the static load can exceed the dynamic rating of the pallet. Is this an accurate statement?

My Initial Reaction

Whoa, 1,800 pounds of juice on each pallet is serious business. I can see why this is important; overloaded pallets are dangerous. Plus, upsetting 220 gallons of juice would result in a costly, time-consuming mess.

Answer:

This is not an accurate statement, necessarily. At some point, you will be moving the juice onto the pallet and stacking the pallets, exceeding the dynamic load during the process could be disastrous and should be avoided.

For safety’s safe, please make sure the following guidelines are followed:

As long as the total weight of the stacks doesn’t exceed the bottom pallet’s Static Load Capacity, you should be fine.

But once you have completed your stack, do not move any multiple pallet stacks unless the bottom pallet load is safely under the Dynamic Load capacity.

Thanks for the question and let us know if you need help finding the most competitive price for your plastic pallets and container bins. We’ll be happy to help you with any performance calculations you may have!

Pallet Stack Height Calculations

Our Customers Continue To Inspire Us

Just when we think that we’ve reached new heights of pallet wisdom, one of our prized customers steps in and pulls us back to earth.

Sure, we routinely optimize pallet shipments to find our pallet buyers the most competitive shipping rates- so why not share that wisdom on our blog?

Here’s a Note we received from our Customer

I am interested in your 24 x 32 Nestable Plastic Semi Pallet Item ; # PP-O-24-NL. I would like to stack several together to achieve a particular height. Your website indicates that one pallet is 5.1″ tall. Can you tell me the height of just the pallet’s deck so I can calculate how many pallets I would need to stack together to achieve a particular height?

Calculating Nestable Pallet Height

One of the most basic, yet elusive calculations we perform is the stack height of plastic pallets. We want to fit as many as possible into the truck that delivers your pallets, to reduce your freight cost per unit.

Here Is How To Calculate Pallet Stack Height

Nestable Pallets

Nesting Height Calculation Explained

To calculate the stack height of nestable pallets, you simply need to add the full height of one pallet, plus product of the additional number of units and the pallet’s nesting height.